because breakfast.

Fresh Summer Rolls

Today, I am posting on how to make your own Fresh Summer Rolls. Because sometimes you need lunch. And because I just learned how and I can’t stop making them.

My parents had a 4th of July barbecue last weekend and invited a bunch of friends. They always have interesting people around and all of them know how to cook. I’m pretty sure it’s a pre-requisite to be a part of the group. If it’s not, it might as well be.

Everyone brought something delicious to contribute to the party. There were burgers, dogs, green salads, pasta salads, broccoli salad, baked beans, cole slaw, gosh – I think there was a little bit of everything. On top of all of the must have bbq items there was also a little station set up where you could make your own summer rolls. WHAT?! I hadn’t ever met the couple who brought these goods, but I had heard a lot about them. Poucette and his wife are so sweet and they make some dang good Vietnamese cuisine.

They brought allllll the fixings to wrap up your very own super delicious, nutritious, spectacular summer roll. They made this really flavorful ground pork with onions, red pepper, ginger, basil and probably a bunch of other magic ingredients. I have yet to learn how to make this part, but I was promised a lesson so I’ll be sure to get back to you on it.

For now, I’ve been making my summer rolls with shrimp. I have also managed to master the peanut sauce by trying lots of different things and failing a few times. The sauce I’ve stuck with also happens to be the healthiest and I use PB2 instead of peanut butter. It’s good-oood and can be easily altered to your liking!

Ok, enough chatting – let’s get to it.

Ingredients n’ thangs:

For the filling

Spring Roll Wrappers

Boston Lettuce

Fresh Bean Sprouts

Fresh Ginger – thinly sliced

Shredded Carrots

Fresh Basil Leaves

Cooked Shrimp

Cellophane Noodles

For my spicy peanut sauce

3 Tablespoons PB2 (or other powdered peanut butter)

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon Honey

2-3 Tablespoons Chopped Peanuts

Red pepper flakes (as many as you like!)

I would go ahead and make the sauce first, because once you roll one up you’ll want to immediately eat it. Prepare 3 Tablespoons of peanut butter by adding water using directions on powdered peanut butter. Add remaining ingredients and whisk together. Add red pepper flakes according to your preference of spice. You can also alter the sauce from there to your liking. Note: powdered peanut butters can vary, so if you’re sauce isn’t thick enough, just add a tad more of the powdered peanut butter until it’s reached the consistency you’d like.

Next you’ll want to prep all your items for the filling so that they are easily available. Grate the carrots, slice the fresh ginger thinly, pull tails off shrimp and pluck some basil leaves. You’ll also want to prepare the vermicelli noodles by pouring boiling water over them. Let sit in boiling water for 3 minutes and then transfer to a cold bath.

For the roll – the first thing you’ll need to do is prepare the wrapper. Fill a pan with warm water. Submerge the wrapper into the water for a minute or two. You’ll know it’s ready because it will get to that soft consistency. Lift it out of the water letting excess water drip off.

Lay flat on a plate or cutting board, then fill her up. Add a few leafy pieces of lettuce, shredded carrots, ginger, sprouts, rice noodles, a shrimp or 2 and big ol’ leaf of fresh basil. Wrap the bottom up over all the goods and pull the filling so that it’s pretty tight within the wrapper. Not too tight though, or your wrapper may tear. Fold a bit further and then fold the left and right sides in before wrapping the remainder.

That. Is. It. Dip in the peanut sauce. Eat. Repeat.

I’ve been eating these for lunch all week. Two rolls with peanut sauce is around 300 calories, which is amaazing.

There’s lots of other ingredients that I think would be delicious up in there too, so don’t be afraid to get creative. Cucumbers, avocado, peppers, mushrooms, jalapeños…

Follow me on Instagram @mymorningbite for more tasty thangs like this one!

5 thoughts on “Fresh Summer Rolls”

I LOVE that you posted a recipe for fresh spring rolls as they are my absolute favorite app to order from our local Thai restaurant. This recipe sounds ahh-mazing, and I’ll be sure to add this to my rotation—thanks Katy!

One of my favorites is from a Vietnamese restaurant in town, barbeque pork spring rolls. And their sauce is amazing! I seriously need to improve my palette so I can figure out how to recreate their sauce.